


Learning the Hard Way

by WorldWarIV



Series: Little Superman Stories [1]
Category: Superman (Christopher Reeve Movies), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Teenage Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25696003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorldWarIV/pseuds/WorldWarIV
Summary: The road to becoming a superhero is a hard one, and even someone like Superman made a few mistakes along the way. Can a young Clark Kent ever forgives himself for a costly mistake he made while still learning about his powers and limits?
Series: Little Superman Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863448
Kudos: 1





	Learning the Hard Way

**Author's Note:**

> I always deeply loved the Superman movies starring the late Christopher Reeve. They helped me so much to deal with hard shit when I was a kid. The inspiration for this story came from Superman III, as I was wondering why Clark looked so deeply disturbed when he arrived too late to stop the bridge from collapsing. Well, in my mind, it was because it reminded him of another time he was too late to help when he was a teen... I titled this story "Little Superman Stories" because I hope to make a series of them in the not so distant future. Enjoy!

“Ma! Eh Ma, you home?” shouted Clark as he was entering the house.

 _Where could she be?_ wondered the young man. She was not in the kitchen, nor in the living room. He climbed the stairs quickly to check in her bedroom. Maybe she was knitting in her favorite chair? Barging into the room, he found no one. Feeling a bit silly, he forced himself to stay calm, and started listening intently. He heard some sort of scraping sound coming from outside. She was in the garden.

Eager to tell her the news, Clark ran at full speed downstairs, barely even slowing down to open the back door, and closing it in a loud bang that made his mother jump in surprise. Clark, still a big smile on his face, did not even pause to say hi or take a breath and started telling his story:

“Ma! Ma! I helped someone again! I was at the grocery store and Mrs. Belmont slipped in a puddle of water. She would have fallen but suddenly, it was like everything was moving in slow motion and I had all the time in the world to catch her. And I did.”

Clark beamed with pride. He felt good. He felt invincible. It was his third rescue in as many days. Two nights ago, a couple of hikers got lost in Burnham Woods. The police department organized a rescue and Clark volunteered. He teamed up with his dad and because of his extremely acute senses, they found the couple in just about an hour. The hikers hugged him when he found them – the lady gave him a peck on the cheek – and the townsfolk even cheered him loudly. Well, them.

The day after, he heard puppies crying while he was coming back from school. Running to Crater Lake, he jumped in the water to retrieve a bag thrown in there by a man Clark could not identify. Freeing the three helpless puppies, he dried them with his heat vision while trying to comfort them with gentle words. Putting the little cuties in his backpack, Clark brought them to Smallville’s vet clinic. Mr. Dubois very kindly promised the young man that he would find a family for each and everyone of them.

All these heroic feats had Clark running on a high, which is why he did not immediately notice the worried look on his mother’s face… or the presence of his father.

“Clark, we talked about this…”

Immediately, Clark froze. How could he have missed the fact that his dad was standing right there? Maybe his super senses were not so super after all. Even though he loved and respected his father dearly, he could not stop himself from being snippy:

“I did nothing wrong. In fact, I saved lives!”

“And I’m real proud of you for that, son. But using your powers every day increases the likelihood of someone finding out about you. For Pete’s sake son, even when you run at half-speed you look like an Olympic athlete.”

“Nobody has seen me so far.”

“It doesn’t mean somebody won’t eventually.”

“Clark, you know we love you,” interjected Martha using a more conciliatory tone. “But we’re worried. We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Nothing bad can happen to me Ma. I’m made of steel. Don’t you worry. I promise to be careful. Just wait and see, I’ll make you guys so proud of me.”

Both Jonathan and Martha Kent exchanged worried looks as their son walked away, a confident – almost arrogant – smile on his face.

#

The Kent family was having dinner. Everyone was quiet. Jonathan was looking angrily at his son, still mad about what he overheard earlier. Clark was keeping quiet but held his head high, not wanting to fight again with his dad but refusing to admit in any form that it was wrong of him to help these people. As always, Martha tried to play the mediator:

“Clark? Is there anything you’d like to say to your father?”

“What would I have to say?” he snapped back. “I did nothing wrong!”

“Young man, don’t you dare talk to your mother like that! And yes, you did nothing wrong, but I’ve specifically asked you to tone down the superfeats a bit and you went and did the exact opposite of that!”

“Is that so wrong to want to help as much as I can?” shouted Clark before suddenly standing up.

The young man angrily picked up his plate and went to his room to eat. Martha sadly looked at her son while he was climbing the stairs loudly, then put a gentle hand on her husband’s arm.

“You were a bit hard on him. Honey look at me. I know you’re proud of what your son is doing. What’s really bothering you?”

“The world isn’t as black and white as he thinks it is. I’m afraid he will get hurt eventually. And I don’t mean physically.”

“I understand. I know he has been a bit of a show-off lately, but for now we will have to trust that he will make the right decisions. Clark wants to help. It’s who he is. And with the gifts he has, he can help a lot of people. We can’t force him to stop, you know he won’t. We can only guide him as best as we can.”

Jonathan looked deeply into his wife’s eyes, then agreed with a nod of his head. She kissed him on the forehead.

“I’ll go get Clark.”

Jonathan thought about his teenage son and the fight they just had. He would have to apologize to Clark about his behavior. It was not always easy for him to admit he made a mistake, but he never shied away from doing it. The last thing he wanted was for Clark to stop helping who he could because of something he would have said. He would never forgive himself. To lighten the mood, he turned on the TV; a special news report was playing.

“A giant blaze is ravaging one of Kansas City most densely populated area. The cause of the fire is unknown for the moment, but it already spread to one other nearby house. Firefighters are struggling to contain it, and we believe that the fire could keep spreading to other neighboring houses.”

The first thought that crossed Jonathan Kent’s mind was that he wished he could do something for those poor people who might very well lose everything tonight – including their lives. As he turned his head around, he saw his son and wife staring at him from the bottom of the stairs.

“I could be there in half an hour Pa. I could help.”

“I know you can, Clark. Do what you have to do. Just be careful, son.”

It had greatly pained Jonathan to say those words, as he knew that this was the last time he had any say in what Clark would do with his powers. The boy left in a blurry stream, running to what he firmly believed was his true calling on an adrenaline rush that would ultimately lead him to the first big lesson of his career: no matter how great his powers, he still could fail.

#

Like Clark had predicted, he was in Kansas City in about half an hour. Night had fallen, so he could run at full speed without worrying too much about being seen. Although Kansas City was a lot bigger than Smallville was, he easily found the location of the blaze by looking at the orange tint coloring the sky, following the smoke scent and listening to the cries of firemen and bystanders.

It was not pretty. From what Clark could tell, the fire had kept spreading despite the best efforts of the firefighters and was now ravaging at least three houses. Not a cloud was in sight. Was there anything Clark could really do? The superteen could blow out some small fires here and there, but something this size? He wasn’t sure he could do anything.

 _Maybe I could try to throw the water tower at it?_ thought Clark before being interrupted by a cry for help.

The voice was faint and high-pitched, and Clark doubted that anyone outside would have heard it. It seemed to come from the second floor of one of the burning buildings. Finally, something the young man could do to help!

Hiding in the shadows as to not be seen from the street, Clark found a backdoor that directly led into the house. He touched some of the flames, barely feeling the heat. The blaze was not as strong here as it was at the front of the house, so Clark put out some pockets of fire here and there, still amazed he could do that as easily as a regular person could blow out a candle. What the young man did not realize though, was that he was wasting precious time putting out fires that would reignite anyway if the main one was not put under control soon.

Clark was climbing the stairs leading to the second floor, when suddenly a window exploded, letting in a gush of air that fanned the flames. The already fragile staircase crumbled under his weight as he soon smashed trough the floor into the basement. The wind was not exactly taken out of him, but he still felt dizzy from the fall. Clark started panicking, as he had planned to rely on his superspeed to get the little kid out of there, but how could he do that if there were no stairs to run on? Even worse, he was now starting to feel the heat burning his skin. Why was that? Could he have depleted his powers? The timing could not have been worse for Clark to find out that his power levels were not static.

Now fearing for the child’s life, Clark looked around, desperate to find a way to reach the second floor. Only one option left: jumping. Praying that he still had the strength to pull off such a feat, he soared as high as he could while looking intensely at the spot on the floor where he hoped to land. Despite achieving a formidable leap, he did not exactly make it all the way but luckily was quick enough to grab the edge of the floor and drag himself on the quickly burning wood.

Now all Clark heard was the little kid coughing. There was so much smoke. Clark did not waste another second, and followed the voice to a room, where he found a little girl curled up in a ball under her bed. Picking her up in his arms, he flashed a reassuring smile and planned to kick the window open and just jump to the ground from there. He did not care anymore if anybody saw him, as he did not dare lose another second.

Clark was about to put his plan into motion when he heard an incredibly loud noise. The whole house was now collapsing on itself, the roof falling on their head and the floor disintegrating under their feet. The little girl screamed. As he realized just how much he had arrogantly underestimated the destructive potential of the blazing inferno, Clark never wished so hard that he could fly.

#

Martha Kent had been cooking pancakes since four in the morning. She was throwing them away as soon as they were ready, wanting to be there when Clark would get home, but not wanting her son to think that she had been worried sick. Jonathan had left a while ago to tend to the fields, telling his wife not to concern herself too much with their son’s whereabouts. Since then, she had come to almost regret convincing her husband to let Clark be who he was, as it was the first time he stayed out all night to rescue somebody and the waiting was just eating her up inside.

Going into the living room, she wondered if she should listen to the news or not. Last time she did, the update was not good, and it only stressed her out even more. While she was pondering that, she heard the front door slam. Clark was finally back!

Soothe covered his face and his clothes were ripped and dirty, but besides that, he seemed fine. Well, almost fine. There was something in his eyes…

“Clark honey, are you alright?”

As soon as she was close enough, Clark fell into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I was too late, Ma. The… the little girl… The smoke… I got her out, but it was too late...”

As she was holding her crying son into her arms, whispering words of motherly love to try and comfort him, Martha Kent wished that she could have forever protected him from such grief. She knew Clark would never make such a mistake again, and that this was a lesson he had to learn the hard way.

Still, it broke her heart.


End file.
